OBC, Patels dominate BJP list in Gujarat

With BJP declaring party's nominee for the forthcoming election on most of the 26 Lok Sabha in Gujarat, winnability and caste seems to have played as the main factor for selecting candidates.

The party has so far announced candidates for 25 seats including Gandhinagar where party's prime ministerial candidate L K Advani is contesting.

Junagadh is the only seat where the party is yet to declare its candidate.

Of the 25 candidates declared by the party, six are from the OBC (Other Backward Class) and Patidar communities each, five are tribals, Brahmin and Rajput two each and Sindhi non-Maharashtrian one each.

According to the state BJP spokesperson I K Jadeja, the party has selected candidates after analysing the ground realities in each constituencies.

The party has put up six candidates from OBC communities in the state where OBCs constitute more than 40 per cent population of the state.

These candidates are Haribhai Chaudhary from Banaskantha, Mahendrasinh Chauhan from Sabarkantha, Devusinh Chauhan from Kheda, Lalji Mer from Surendranagar, Bhavsinh Rathor from Patan and Darshana Jardosh from Surat.

BJP, which has dominated the state politics since 1991 Lok Sabha polls, has selected six candidates from Patidar, which is a traditional vote bank of the party.